Off With Her Head! - Project Prelute Part III

"deviantcustoms: OEM++ builds" (deviantcustoms) 05/10/2018 at 09:05 • Filed to: #honda, #prelude, #pickup, #truck, #ute, #builtnotbought, #vtec

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It’s not every day you get to shear the roof off of a car. And for good reason - you could easily make an irreversibly crooked cut, injure yourself with a runaway sawzall, or worse still, end up with a tacoed car. That’s why you build a full CAD model of the car and perform finite element analysis simulations to check that everything holds up under static and dynamic loading.

Or in my case, just whip out the angle grinder and a fresh 45-grit wheel.

That said, a lot of seat-of-my-pants engineering went into making sure the car wouldn’t buckle. To back up a little, this was what was already in the car before the cut was made:

So I was fairly confident when I severed the C-pillar as well:

Earlier on, I’d realized the original C-pillars had a good chance of being reincarnated as the new B-pillars, so I made sure to save them:

After a lot of iterative trimming and bending to fit:

Crazy Z-shaped weld at the top.

Flash forward 10 months, and I’d say it worked out pretty well!

Next time: closing off the rear wall.

HondoyotaE38: A Japanese and German Collab...wait a minute > deviantcustoms: OEM++ builds 05/10/2018 at 09:04

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MOAR PRELUTE PICS

pip bip - choose Corrour > deviantcustoms: OEM++ builds 05/10/2018 at 09:05

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when doing a conversion like that, do you need to have it signed off by a proper engineer for DMV and/or insurance purposes?

Maxima Speed > deviantcustoms: OEM++ builds 05/10/2018 at 09:10

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This is cool. I’m no engineer but in a rollover event, it seems like square tubes wouldn’t properly absorb stressing, wpuldnt they have a higher tendency to break at the weld points? Also I’m concerned about no rear diagonal bracing.

Can we get pics of the whole car?

random001 > Maxima Speed 05/10/2018 at 10:15

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Probably not THOSE tubes. Thicc. Also, did you see those welds? Pretty sure that’s pro right there, I would not worry about the bracing at this point.

Stapleface > deviantcustoms: OEM++ builds 05/10/2018 at 10:26

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You know, I read part II and didn’t even realize what exactly you were building. This looks like it was a hell of an undertaking. Also, nice welds!

Urambo Tauro > deviantcustoms: OEM++ builds 05/10/2018 at 10:30

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I like how you were able to re-use those pillars. Nice work!

e36Jeff now drives a ZHP > Maxima Speed 05/10/2018 at 10:58

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circles are better than squares, but if the squares are big enough it’s moot point. His square bars look much bigger than most round tubing I see for roll cages, so as long as the have decent thickness to them he should be fine..

Derpwagon > deviantcustoms: OEM++ builds 05/10/2018 at 11:04

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I like it. You’re making your own damn ridgeline, with blackjack and hookers.

deviantcustoms: OEM++ builds > Maxima Speed 05/11/2018 at 02:33

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Basically in lieu of optimization I overbuilt everything. That said, because I used mild steel and punted diagonal bracing and bracing to the floor, the frame isn’t as strong as it could potentially be. TBH was not really planning for a rollover event - just to retain enough stiffness to corner OK.

Some pics of whole car at https://deviantcustoms.kinja.com/smashing-pumpkin-1825707184 , and more to come.

deviantcustoms: OEM++ builds > random001 05/11/2018 at 02:34

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Ha thanks I wouldn’t call myself a pro welder at all, but I can make them look good given sufficient time!

deviantcustoms: OEM++ builds > Stapleface 05/11/2018 at 02:40

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Thanks! Ha yes it was one of those projects that seemed like it would be a reasonable amount of effort at first, but eventually blew up and took over my life for a while.

Still trying to figure out Oppo and how best to link my posts for continuity...

deviantcustoms: OEM++ builds > pip bip - choose Corrour 05/11/2018 at 02:41

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Probably.

deviantcustoms: OEM++ builds > Urambo Tauro 05/11/2018 at 02:42

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I won’t lie, that’s the part I’m proudest of in the entire build =)

deviantcustoms: OEM++ builds > Derpwagon 05/11/2018 at 03:01

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Heh thanks. I’m pretty sure a Ridgeline is gonna be a future project donor. That one should hold more than just one hooker in the bed.

random001 > deviantcustoms: OEM++ builds 05/11/2018 at 06:26

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Those brace welds are sort of awesome, though....

deviantcustoms: OEM++ builds > HondoyotaE38: A Japanese and German Collab...wait a minute 05/13/2018 at 10:35

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I’m figuring out Oppo as I go along, I’ve now added links to my other posts in the Recommended Stories section.